Another round of severe thunderstorms rocked Michigan and left chaos in its wake Thursday, with streets flooded andmore than 700,000 customers without power, the biggest such outage in years.
The flooding was so bad it strandedFEMA teams in their hotels, preventing them from assessing flood damage from June.
The power outages and flooding were the result of two storms that swept across the state, one Wednesday afternoon and one that carried on throughout the night and into Thursday morning.
A total of 2-4 inches accumulated throughout the metro Detroit region from both rainfalls, said Sara Schultz, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in White Lake Township. Winds hit up to 70 miles per hour. A flood warning in the Rouge River was in effect until Friday morning, and a flood warning for the Huron River is in effect through next Thurs
Thomas Karadeema Jr. lives in Taylor with his girlfriend, kids and a still-unnamed bearded dragon. Karadeema Jr. lostpower Wednesday afternoon and took to his local Facebook group to see if anyone could temporarily look afterhis lizard.
"Anyone willing to be kind enough that has power to temporarily house my 4-month-old bearded dragon?" Karadeema Jr. posted. "He's been without light and heat since 3pm yesterday and maximum time without light for them is 24 hours."
He immediately received dozens of replies, all community members offering their assistance.
"Quite honestly, I was not expecting anybody to reply back," he told the Free Press.
More:Here's what to do with refrigerated and frozen foods during a power outage
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Ultimately, his uncle saw the post and brought over a generator, but Karadeema Jr. was touched by the support his neighbors offered.
Historic power outage
“These three days of storm activity ranks among the top 10 storms in our company’s 135-year history,” said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy’s vice president for electric operations. “I could not be more impressed by the patience shown by our customers affected by these damaging waves of storms, and I want them to know we will not stop working extended shifts day and night until our restoration is complete and the lights are back on for every one of our customers.”
Packard said in a news conference Thursday afternoon that most homes wouldhave power back up and running by Saturday night, but additional storms could lead to increased delays.
About 371,000 Consumers customers had lost power since 9 p.m. Tuesday, said Brian Wheeler, a spokesperson for Consumers Energy. As of 9:45 p.m.Thursday, about 187,000 of those customers remain without power while about 184,000 have had their power restored, said Wheeler.
Packard said about 550 crews were working in 16-hour shifts to restore power, including contractors and workers from surrounding utilities. Priority areas, Packard said, includeplaces with hospitals, government buildings, nursing homes, customers with medical equipment and others.
It may feel like90 degrees outside and the power may be out, but there's no problem that ice cream can't solve — at least that wasConsumers Energy's mindset Thursday. The energy companystarted giving away free ice cream to thank customers for being patient as their crews work around the clock.
Meanwhile, 550,000 DTE customers were still without power as of 9 p.m. Thursday, according to a news release.Jerry Norcia, CEO and president of DTE, said he is doing everything he can to get power restored for everyone while keeping homeowners and his crewssafe.
"1,800 DTE personnel, along with over 1,000 out-of-state contractors are working around the clock to not only restore power but to also safeguard over 3,000 areas in our service territory with downed poles and wires," Norcia said.
Heather Rivard, senior vice president of distribution operations at DTE Energy, advised customers to report outages through the company’s app or website and byphone.
As the company works to restore power to its customers, priority will be placed on hospitals and police and fire stations, before moving on to its largest outages, Rivard said.
DTE will provide more specific estimates for when power will be restored later Thursday, Rivard said.
Community support
With hundreds of thousands of residents quite literally powerless across the state, local governments have taken it upon themselves to do what they can to keep residents safe.
Dearborn distributedfree dry ice on Thursday night for its residents to help reduce food waste and help those whose refrigerators aren't on.
The city of Westland opened cooling centers that double as charging stations throughout the city to help residents combat both the intense heat and the power outages.
Some community members are taking it upon themselves to help out their neighbors, like Twitter user Andrew Admon from Ann Arbor, who offered his emptyfridge space and outlets for those who had lost power.
Otherstook to Facebook to offer support to their neighbors.Karadeema Jr.said the response he gotexemplifies a larger desireto support one's community, especially during times of crisis or emergency, and it meant a lot tohim.
"They took it into their hearts to reach out to me," he said. "I definitelyappreciate the community coming together."
Reporters Minnah Arshad and Kyle Davidson contributed to this report.
Contact Emma Stein: estein@freepress.com and follow her on Twitter @_emmastein.
